Sheima Benembarek was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Morocco and moved to Canada in 2005. In 2015, she relocated to Toronto ...

Spiritual But Secular

Ersatz sermons

By Anne Bokma

Opinion

June 2016

Eighty-year-old photographer Willie Waddell has experienced her share of heartache — a son who died in a car accident almost 30 years ago, and another son, “a multi-millionaire businessman,” who lost his fortune and dealt with addiction. She remembers incessantly pacing the floors of her home in Victoria in an effort to cope with her grief.

In time, she found some sources of solace, often beginning her day with an inspirational TED Talk and frequently turning to the words of Don Miguel Ruiz, the bestselling author of The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. “I pick up The Four Agreements once or twice a week — if I am getting stressed I will turn to it. It has a very good effect on me,” says Waddell, who was raised in the United Church but says she now has “zero inclination to go to church.”

People like Waddell may not be finding support in soothing words from the pulpit, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking for messages of inspiration and hope. Today, there’s no shortage of secular-style sermons for them to turn to. Oprah Winfrey’s SuperSoul Sunday TV show features conversations with spiritual gurus from Marianne Williamson to Eckhart Tolle. The U.K.-based School of Life broadcasts its Sunday morning secular talks by cultural figures via YouTube. Archived commencement addresses by notables such as author-essayists David Foster Wallace and Nora Ephron are also popular online; in an article, the website Brain Pickings calls them “the contemporary secular equivalent of the sermon . . . [a] compact packet of wisdom on how to be a decent human being and lead a good life.”

But none of these come close to the immense popularity of TED Talks, which have attracted more than two billion views. Delivered to the masses with evangelical zeal, the talks were recently dubbed “The Church of TED” by the New York Times. They feature presenters such as author Brené Brown on “The Power of Vulnerability” (24 million views), psychologist Dan Gilbert on “The Surprising Science of Happiness” (12 million views) and Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs on “How to Live Before You Die” (eight million views). These talks even follow a classic sermon structure: three points, and no more than 20 minutes.

Some ministers, such as Rev. Minnie Hornidge of Alberni Valley (B.C.) United, are capitalizing on the popularity of TED Talks by incorporating them into their sermons. Hornidge has shown snippets of several TED Talks featuring, for example, author Karen Armstrong on compassion and LGBT advocate Ash Beckham on inclusion. “They give people something deep to think about,” she says.

Some argue these talks offer lightweight inspirational nuggets, which are usually viewed alone without the bonding presence of community, are consumed quickly and are easily forgotten. “TED Talks are full of nice ideas, but good ideas are worthless without resiliency and commitment,” writes doctoral student John Slattery on the Daily Theology website. “They fill us with good feelings without forcing us to interact with them in a serious style.”

In his book, Spiritual But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America, Robert Fuller, a professor of philosophy and religious studies at Bradley University in Illinois, observes that many congregants “have little loyalty to their church’s theological traditions” and choose to “self-consciously supplement their church’s teachings by consuming books, articles or lectures that are decidedly non-theological.”

He bristles at the notion that spiritual seekers should be chided for this. “I don’t think anyone should be criticized for engaging in these small episodes of spiritual upliftment — and there’s nothing wrong with experiencing them alone,” he said in an interview. After all, he points out, “Buddhist teachings encourage us to ‘Be a lamp unto yourself.’”

And who’s to say that light can’t come from the glow of a TED Talk on a computer screen?Anne Bokma is a journalist in Hamilton.

Keep it free!

If you enjoy reading our online stories about ethical living, justice and faith, please make a donation to the Friends of The Observer Fund. Supporting our award-winning journalism will help you and others to continue to access ucobserver.org for free in the months to come.

Readers’ advisory: The discussion below is moderated by The UC Observer and facilitated by Intense Debate (ID), an online commentary system. The Observer reserves the right to edit or reject any comment it deems to be inappropriate. Approved comments may be further edited for length, clarity and accuracy, and published in the print edition of the magazine. Please note: readers do not need to sign up with ID to post their comments on ucobserver.org. We require only your user name and e-mail address. Your comments will be posted from Monday to Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Join the discussion today!

by Kristy Woudstra

Editorials

by Jocelyn Bell

Video

by Observer Staff

Anne Bokma left the Dutch Reformed Church as a young adult and eventually became a member of the United Church and then the Unitarian Universalists. Having long explored the "spiritual but not religious" demographic as a writer, she decided to immerse herself in practices — like hiring a soul coach, secular choir-singing and forest bathing — for 12 months to find both enlightenment and entertainment.

A preacher’s kid pretended to be a devout daughter, but secretly she felt lost in a wilderness of doubt.

Contact us

About the Observer

Founded in 1829, The United Church Observer is the oldest continuously published magazine in North America and the second oldest in the English speaking world. It has won international acclaim for journalistic excellence and garnered more awards for writing than any other Canadian religious publication. Read more...